Six reasons to believe in God?

Here we have an article that claims to present six 'straightforward' reasons to believe that there is a God. Here's how they describe their own list...

Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, "You just have to believe." Well, here is an

Deny Ra, and you'll regret it!
artwork by GENZOMAN

attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.

Believe me, I'm going to hold you to your presented standard, Marilyn Adamson.

And as soon as she says that she starts the dishonesty right of the bat.

But first consider this. When it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God. On the other hand, for those who want to know God if he is there, he says, "You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you." Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, If God does exist, would I want to know him? Here then, are some reasons to consider...

Right... And Christians are just suppressing the evidence for Ra, Odin, and Vishnu. Sorry, but you can't just invent a defense that automatically defines anyone who disagrees as willfully incorrect. I could say that you really do know that Thor exists, you just choose to deny his power and might. As for knowing God, or wanting to... Wanting to know God and his word better actually ended up making me an atheist. If there is a God, I certainly still want to know though. So, on to the six reasons...

1. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

Um... actually no, it didn't. The universe abides by constant laws of nature. Complexity can be explained by these laws, the sheer passage of great expanses off time, and the great numbers at play.

The Earth is offered as an example. It is said that Earth is the right size and in the right location for life. The only such planet we know of. They ignore that evidence is showing more and more that Mars once had all the conditions for life, and may have once hosted it. They also claim that Earth is in such a perfect position that were it any closer to the Sun, it would burn up, and and further away, it would freeze. This is false. There is a habitable zone that Earth orbits in, but Earth does not reside in some inch-perfect orbit with no room for variation. If it did, Then one side of the Earth would be too hot, and the other too cold since the Earth is 12,742km wide. Also, the orbit of the Earth varies by 4,999,942km. That is not a trivial amount of variation at all.

The fact that Earth is pretty good at supporting life doesn't mean that it had to be designed expressly for life. When you consider that there are billions of stars in every galaxy, each one possibly hosing planets, and there are billions of those galaxies, that means there are a LOT of planets out there. Conditions on each will likely be a little different. So is it so hard to believe that given so many
possible planets, at least one had the right recipe for life as we know it? The conditions for life aren't here because we are here. Rather, we're here, because the right conditions were.

Water is another example offered. Yet their claims are easily explained by chemistry and biology. The brain and eye are also claimed proof of design. Two amazing organs that are beautiful results of evolution. They claim that evolution can not explain either, but they would be wrong. For example... With the eye, we know of many intermediate forms of eyes. All the way from a simple patch of light sensitive cells to the complex eyes found in humans and other animals.

But the eye is a very poor example for design. Yes, it is amazing. But the newest engineer could easily improve on it. If the human eye was designed, why do some animals have so much better eyesight than us? Also, when you consider the entire spectrum, our eyes can only see a small sliver. There are insects that can even see what we can't. But as for the human eye, if it was designed, it was done poorly. Part of our eye is 'built' upside-down and backwards, and our eyes also have a blind spot. Is it reasonable to claim that the human eye was divinely designed when a digital camera has a better 'eye'?

2. Does God exist? The universe had a start - what caused it?

The Big Bang, because... Evidence! Oh, of course they follow up by stating that it is not known where what went 'bang' came from. An odd thing to point out, since God don't explain things any better, for you then have to explain where God came from. They may claim that God just always existed. But why couldn't energy have always existed? If you ask me, it's far more likely that something simple like energy always existed, rather than an infinitely complex deity, if something had to always exist. In fact, a creator god would violate have to contain more energy than the universe itself in order to create the universe. So you tell me... what's more likely to 'just be'... static electricity or a machine made to create that electricity?

3. Does God exist? The universe operates by uniform laws of nature. Why does it?

Actually, the fact that there are natural unchanging laws suggests a naturally occurring universe. In a created universe, the laws of nature could be turned on or off or tweaked to the designer's whims. A universe where gravity is different from day to day would be what would throw a wrench into the view of a natural universe. If it was all created, God could simply choose to 'turn off' gravity for a moment to show his might. Or he could dial the laws of nature to different settings on other planets so that they would be able to support life after all. Instead, what we see is a natural universe that follows natural laws.

4. Does God exist? The DNA code informs, programs a cell's behavior.

True, DNA is amazing.But it's also a product of complex bio-chemistry. It is sometimes called a code or a language. But that terminology is more of a way to explain what DNA does. It's not a code in the sense that it was created and handed to the cells with an instruction booklet. But it is a code in the sense that the combination of chemical sequences result in different traits, etc.

But while DNA is wonderful, and can allow the passing on of good traits, it can also result in the passing on of negative ones. Perhaps the inheriting of hemophilia. It can even result in other results... say, Down's Syndrome. And DNA isn't even as good as it gets. Consider GNA for a moment. It does not exist in nature, but can be created in the lab. Yet GNA is more stable than DNA. If the 'coding' of life were intelligently created, why go with DNA instead? Not being natural wouldn't be a hurdle for a god to worry about.  Instead, it's far more likely that DNA followed RNA, and other chemical combinations came before them. Remember, when we get right down to it we're only talking about chemicals finding themselves in the right mix and the right environment.

5. Does God exist? We know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.

Come again? An unsubstantiated claim is not even close to an explanation or a good reason to believe. Maybe Thor is constantly seeking to be known. He does have his very own day of the week, and perhaps every thunderstorm is a sign that he is there after all.

Marilyn claims that atheists worry about God and study religion because God is pursuing us. If that was the case, I find it odd that an all-knowing God would choose not to provide any evidence at all that would change my mind. I mean, I'm not looking for much. Yet the simplest of tasks must be too much for this god.

Atheists talk about God and study religion for all kinds of reasons. We want to fight the harm it is doing in the world. We want to point out when religion is unfairly striping people of their rights. We point out how hateful and violent supposedly peaceful or loving can be. We want to stop religion from getting in the way of progress, or religion denying things we now know to be truths. And in the USA, we fight those who try to illegally shoehorn religion into our secular government.

And if God is pressuring everyone would doesn't believe in him, why is it that Hindus, Buddhists, Native Americans, Inuits, or those that believe in tribal religions don't examine and study Christianity? If God is trying to stalk me into belief, then he should be doing the same to them. But they aren't studying anything other than their own religion. Seems God also forgot to try and convince a ton of people.

Furthermore, I not only study and show interest in Christianity, but many other religions as well. Is my thinking the Norse religion is also false, the fact that I'd defy the Norse religion becoming law, and the opinion that adherents to the Norse myths are delusional mean that what is actually happening is that Odin is reaching out to me? Sorry, but this argument doesn't wash in several ways and is pretty close to doing what the author said she wouldn't do right at the beginning. Saying God is actually trying to reach me and offering no actual proof is pretty close to 'you're just going to have to believe me on this'.

6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God revealing himself to us.

Um... How? "Jesus claimed to be God"... Oh for crying out loud! Is that really the best you've got? Yes, the Bible says that Jesus claimed to be equal to God. But Thor claimed to be a god in his own right, as well as the son of the all father, the god Odin. I can write a book right now saying that I am equal to God. Does that make it true? Of course not.

Also, how can anyone say which theology is the 'clearest' picture of God, when we don't even know that he exists. If there is a God, and we don't know which one, we also don't know his traits. To claim the Bible is the clearest picture is to rely only on personal preference. It could just as easily be that the Egyptians were the ones that got it right, or maybe the Greeks. Or maybe they all have it wrong. But when you have nothing to compare all the stories to, you can't claim one to be more accurate that the rest.

So in the end we are left with six VERY weak 'reasons' to believe in God. None of them being reasonable, and either relying on fallacies, ignorance, or personal preference. And that's the great thing about the truth, it's true whether we believe it to be true or not. So keep on believing this list is anything other than laughable, and I'll continue see see it as the utterly worthless and oft refuted list that it actually is.


-Brain Hulk

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